Serving the nation
The United States Postal Service is committed to delivering your mail and packages throughout the current pandemic. We are proud of our role in providing an essential service to every community. The one constant throughout this crisis has been our commitment to fulfilling the vital mission of the Postal Service.
We would like to share the following information:
• USPS wants to help keep you – and our employees – safe. We ask for you to maintain a safe distance at all times. The Centers for Disease Control recommends keeping a distance of six feet or more between other individuals. Please allow a safe distance between you and your letter carrier or post office clerk while they are performing their duties.
• We know it is a challenge to find ways to connect with family and friends at this time. The Post Office is one of the ways to remain in contact, and you don’t have to come to the Post Office to buy stamps or drop off your card or letter. Just go on usps.com and order your stamps and leave your stamped envelope for your letter carrier to pick up when he or she delivers your mail.
• It is important to note the CDC, the World Health Organization, and the U.S. Surgeon General have all said there is very low risk that this virus is being spread through mail.
Our mission to bind the nation together is achieved through the tireless efforts and sacrifices of our dedicated employees. The outpouring of support you have shown has had a great impact on everyone at the Postal Service. Knowing how much you care means everything to us. On behalf of all employees at the Watsonville Post Office – Thank you.
Manuel Gonzalez, Watsonville postmaster
Health trumps wealth
Our latest situation emphasizes that we need to stop compromising the world’s health to build upon excessive wealth. The need for essential health trumps excessive wealth every time.
While our present “leader” can’t be totally blamed for what we are now experiencing, he can be blamed for making matters orders of magnitude worse. Focusing only upon making the stock market appear “rich,” sacrificed other concerns. That “real-time barometer of the perception of the wealthiest 1%,” has now even shown their displeasure. Actions now finally taken (to slow the spread) are appreciated, but an ounce of prevention was worth tons of cure. (Where were those actions when the time was already proven to be of the essence after all the real experts emphasized a troubling doubling every day?) Initially denying the facts wasted so much valuable time while our “leader” did his usual blaming others for the latest “hoax” as an “irrational” excuse to replace him with a more appropriate leader.
We are so fortunate that many others who actually incorporate science, have stepped up with facts followed by common sense guidance to truly lead us through these difficult times. While this is not the Civil War with its more than 600,000 casualties when we battled among ourselves, no amount of guns (or loads of BS) can win this latest battle. We need to continue to do our part to shelter-in-place and not be too quick to ruin all our sacrifices.
Bob Fifield, Aptos
